The Toyota Forklift Raiders have fallen to the Sharks 24-6 at PointsBet Stadium on Sunday afternoon after finishing the game with 12 men.
Jordan Rapana opened the scoring for the Raiders, showing his experience and scoring in his 200th NRL game after winning the aerial dual over Connor Tracey thanks to a pinpoint kick from Jamal Fogarty.
Fogarty successfully converted to give the Green Machine an early 6-0 lead by the fifth minute.
The Raiders continued to march down the field and apply pressure to the Cronulla outfit, but a successful captain's challenge from the Sharks got the home side out of deep water.
Following the successful captain’s challenge, the Sharks kicked for touch and got on the front foot which resulted in a Jesse Ramien try in the 15th minute.
Braydon Trindall missed the conversion which left Canberra to still lead 6-4.
In the 22nd minute the Sharks looked to threaten the Raiders try line with a set restart 20m out from the visitor’s line.
Canberra rallied together and showed why they deserve their finals ticket, putting a stop to the Sharks attack, holding up Braden Hamlin-Uele as he tried to burrow over the line in the 23rd minute.
Rapana continued to show his class, towering over Tracey once again in the 33rd minute, appearing to complete his double. Unfortunately for the Raiders this try was disallowed due to losing possession over the line.
The Green Machine continued to be relentless, with Zac Woolford narrowly missing out on a try of his own just minutes later, with the bunker confirming the ball was not grounded.
In the final minute of the half, an error from Nicholas Hynes granted the visitors some valuable field position, which saw Matt Frawley attempt to kick a field goal.
Unfortunately, Frawley’s attempt hit the left upright, leaving the score locked in at 6-4 at halftime.
Returning from the sheds, it was a deadlock with both sides' defence gelling together to hold out any attacking threats.
Cronulla were first to score in the second half, with a Hynes short ball allowing Jack Williams to squeeze through the Raiders defence to score under the sticks in the 52nd minute.
Trindall converted, seeing the Sharks lead 10-6.
In the 58th minute, Jack Wighton found a gap in the Shark’s defence, breaking away to be taken down 30m out from Cronulla’s try line.
Two tackles later the Raiders kicked down the left edge which saw Wighton take flight in a valiant effort where he came down just short with Sione Katoa taking possession.
Sebastian Kris put a stop to Katoa’s attack, but was sent off for a dangerous tackle, leaving the Raiders to finish the game with just 12 men.
Cronulla capitalised on this, running in three unanswered tries through Trindall, Mulitalo, and Katoa to further their lead to 24-6.
The Raiders continued to put up a fight, with Tom Starling making a line break in the 76th minute to gain Canberra some valuable field position.
The visitors swung the ball wide as they looked for Nick Cotric down the right edge, but the winger fell just short, being tackled just one metre from the line.
The Cronulla Sharks secured a 24-6 win over the Canberra Raiders, and the Green Machine will look to regroup before their clash against the Knights for the first week of finals footy.
